The trial of Sudan's autocratic former President Omar al-Bashir on corruption and money laundering charges was adjourned for one week following testimony from several witnesses Saturday, a judicial official said.
Al-Bashir was ousted by the military in April after months of mass protests against his three-decade authoritarian rule. So far, the military says he won't be extradited to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he faces charges of war crimes and genocide linked to the Darfur conflict in the 2000s.
Sudan's new joint military-civilian council — formed earlier this week — has given no indication it will change the decision to keep him in the capital, Khartoum, where he's been in custody.
Sudan's autocratic former President Omar al-Bashir sits in a cage during his trial on corruption and money laundering charges in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019. (AP Photo)
The ex-president appeared in court wearing a traditional white robe and turban, and arrived in a white Land Cruiser amid tight security.
The judicial official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said at least three witnesses testified Saturday regarding the corruption-related charges against al-Bashir. Those accusations focus on alleged money laundering and millions of U.S. dollars, euros and Sudanese pounds that were seized in his home at the time of his arrest.
The current trial will not touch on separate charges against al-Bashir regarding the killing of protesters during the popular uprising. The corruption hearings began last week and are set to resume Aug. 31.
Al-Bashir testified last week that he had received tens of millions of dollars in cash from Saudi Arabia, including $25 million from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Human Rights Watch said Friday that the national trial "should not overshadow the pressing need for accountability for gross human rights violations and atrocity crimes in Darfur and elsewhere."
Sudan's military reached a power-sharing deal last week with the protesters, who had remained in the streets after al-Bashir's ouster while negotiating with the military over a transition to civilian rule. The agreements established an administration that will rule Sudan during a three-year transition period toward democratic elections.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza as the territory with the largest number of people facing famine, according to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday.
The U.N. report said 24 million more people faced an acute lack of food than in 2022, due to the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan. The number of nations with food crises that are monitored has also been expanded.
Máximo Torero, chief economist for the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, said 705,000 people in five countries are at Phase 5, the highest level, on a scale of hunger determined by international experts — the highest number since the global report began in 2016 and quadruple the number that year.
Over 80% of those facing imminent famine — 577,000 people — were in Gaza, he said. South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mali each host many thousands also facing catastrophic hunger.
According to the report’s future outlook, around 1.1 million people in Gaza, where the Israel-Hamas war is now in its seventh month, and 79,000 in South Sudan are projected to be in Phase 5 and facing famine by July.
It said conflict will also continue to drive food insecurity in Haiti, where gangs control large portions of the capital.
Additionally, while the El Nino phenomenon peaked in early 2024, “its full impact on food security – including flooding and poor rain in parts of east Africa and drought in southern Africa, especially Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are like to manifest throughout the year.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report “a roll call of human failings,” and that “in a world of plenty, children are starving to death.”
“The conflicts erupting over the past 12 months compound a dire global situation,” he wrote in the report's foreword.
Guterres highlighted the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as the enclave holds the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger. There is also the year-old conflict in Sudan, which has created the world's largest internal displacement crisis “with atrocious impacts on hunger and nutrition,” he added.
According to the report, over 36 million people in 39 countries and territories are facing an acute hunger emergency, a step below the famine level in Phase 4, with more than a third in Sudan and Afghanistan. It's an increase of a million people from 2022, the report said.
Arif Husain, the U.N. World Food Program’s chief economist, said every year since 2016 the numbers of people acutely food insecure have gone up, and they are now more than double the numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the report looks at 59 countries, he said the target is to get data from 73 countries where there are people who are acutely food insecure.
Secretary-General Guterres called for an urgent response to the report’s findings that addresses the underlying causes of acute hunger and malnutrition while transforming the systems that supply food. Funding is also not keeping pace with the needs, he stressed.
“We must have the funding, and we also must have the access,” WFP’s Husain said, stressing that both “go hand-in-hand” and are essential to tackle acute food insecurity.
The report is the flagship publication of the Food Security Information Network and is based on a collaboration of 16 partners including U.N. agencies, regional and multinational bodies, the European Union, the U.S. Agency for International Development, technical organizations and others.
FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. According to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday, April 24, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza the territory with the largest number of people facing famine. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
